Establishing a Business Giving Program

The following basic steps that can be used to establish a business giving program.

• Clarify your goals.
  What do you hope to accomplish with your charitable giving program?

• Identify the tax benefits.
  What can you deduct as a charitable contribution? How much can you deduct?
  
• Set a budget.
  How much do you want to give?

• Set up a process.
  How will you accept solicitations? Who decides? How do you say no?

• Set up criteria for evaluating particular requests.
  When asked to give more than a small amount of money, you will want to consider certain information about the organization to which you are contributing and the way it intends to use your money.

• Review your program.
  Set aside some time once each year or each quarter to look at your giving program. How well did it achieve your goals? How much satisfaction did you and your employees receive from your contributions?